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Ricky Gervais called 'humorless' for saying 'The Office' would be canceled if aired today

Ricky Gervais said if the UK version of 'The Office' were made today, it would 'suffer' from more criticism than it did when it aired first

Ricky Gervais' 'The Office', which aired for two seasons, from 2001 to 2003, was the inspiration for the incredibly popular US version of 'The Office' led by Steve Carell, which aired on NBC for nine seasons from 2005 to 2013. Gervais said on Thursday, July 8 that if 'The Office' were made today, it would "suffer" from more criticism than it did when it originally aired almost 20 years ago due to the rise of online "outrage mobs who take things out of context". Apparently, the actor's comments angered the sitcom's loyal fans.

"I think now it would suffer because people take things literally. There’s these outrage mobs who take things out of context. This was a show about everything. It was about difference, it was about sex, race, all the things that people fear to even be discussed or talked about now in case they say the wrong thing and they’re ‘canceled', " Gervais said. "And the BBC have gotten more and more careful and people just want to keep their jobs. So people would worry about some of the subjects and some of the jokes, even though they were clearly ironic and we were laughing at this buffoon being uncomfortable around difference, " he added.

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Gervais, whose Golden Globes speech is still popular, further told Times Radio, "I think if [‘The Office’] was put out now, I think that some people have lost that sense of irony and context. And so, I think it would be, usually, this is what happens, right? It isn’t a case of what’s right or what’s wrong, it’s a case of how many letters do we have to write? I’ve talked people down off the ledge before. Throughout my career I’ve said, ‘Listen, I’ll write the letter.’ I’ve explained it to people and gone, ‘No, no, it’s OK, ’cause this…’ and they go, ‘Oh, OK.’ Sometimes they’re just scared, and they’re even more scared now because people don’t take an explanation for an answer, they just say, ‘Well, I don’t want to see it, so let’s ban it.'” He then added that he’s “not cancel-proof" and that he "just don’t care."

'People have been trying to cancel Ricky Gervais for years'

In response to Ricky Gervais' comments, people took to Twitter and slammed the actor. One user wrote, "Tbf if someone tried to cancel the office today, they’d essentially be trying to cancel you…which if I’m pretty sure people have been trying to do for years now and still have yet to be successful. The office is uncancellable." Another commented, "If the UK version of The Office was released today, it would have been cancelled because Ricky Gervais is terminally humourless." One user tweeted, "Ricky Gervais is so pathetic. Yeah bro, The Office, one of the most generic cookie cutter sitcoms of all time on par with Big Bang Theory and Friends would be cancelled. You're just too edgy for these wokescolds lol."

After facing wide criticism, Gervais issued a 'damage control' statement on Twitter which said, "Just to be clear, I did not say The Office would be cancelled if it were made today. That makes no sense. It's still around. This is my actual quote. "Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I said, 'Good, let them cancel it. I've been paid!'" Clearly a joke."